The US Under-Secretary Uzra Zeya has said that her country values Bangladesh as a partner in the Indo-Pacific region.
She made the comment after her meeting with visiting Foreign Secretary Md Jashim Uddin in Washington on Friday.
"Vital discussion with Foreign Secretary Uddin on US-Bangladesh humanitarian cooperation, accountability & democratic institutions, and support for labor rights. The US values Bangladesh as a partner in the Indo-Pacific region and our strong collaboration as their leading partner on Rohingya response and (number) 1 source of FDI," she said in X, formerly twitter.
The foreign ministry said they had "fruitful discussions on the reforms of the democratic institutions and upholding of democratic values, accountability of human rights violations, humanitarian response and sustainable solutions of the Rohingya crisis, and labour rights issues etc."
Jashim Uddin went to the US on October 7 on his first visit abroad, after taking charge as the foreign secretary in September following the formation of the interim government led by Noble Laureate Dr Mohammad Yunus on August 8.
A series of meetings were held in Washington with him, focusing on the enhancement of bilateral relations between the United States and Bangladesh.
Key areas of discussion included economic collaboration, counterterrorism efforts, democratic reforms, and responses to the Rohingya crisis.
At the State Department, he had separate meetings with Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Verma, Acting Under Secretary for Political Affairs John Bass and Acting Assistant Secretary for Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration Marta Costanzo Youth on Thursday.
South Asia’s point person Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu was present at a lunch meeting between him and key officials including Acting Assistant Secretary Marta C Youth, Deputy Assistant Secretary Nicole Chulick, Deputy Assistant Secretary Monica Ager Jacobsen, as well as Director Alla P Kamins.
He also met with Brendan Lynch, assistant USTR for South and Central Asia, on October 10, and Lindsey W Ford, special assistant to the President Joe Biden and Sr Director for South Asia, at the White House.
All those meetings focused on a wide range of issues of mutual interests, as shared by the US officials in their respective X, formerly Twitter, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dhaka, earlier, said.
Bangladesh and the US relations took a new turn last month when President Joe Biden held a rare meeting with Dr Muhammad Yunus on the side-lines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
During the meeting, Biden assured strong support for democratic reforms and economic restructuring in Bangladesh.
Following this, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Dr Yunus, where they had detailed discussions on cooperation between the two countries.
Earlier, on September 15, a high-level US delegation with Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu visited Bangladesh.
In the context of these visits and meetings, the foreign secretary is now on a trip to Washington.
He attended the UN meetings in New York first and then travelled to Washington to meet senior officials of the State Department.